Monument record ORF 171 - Small Vibration Laboratory circa 1956

2007: Field survey of the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment by Historic England (S1).
Structure G5: The Small Vibration Laboratory, perhaps adapted from a garage, is a single storey rectangular building of brick cavity wall construction faced in Burwell whites laid to stretcher bond contrasting with a red brick face to the west. It has a flat 17cm thick concrete roof. Metal framed windows with concrete sills and lintels are used throughout, on the insides of the windows are wooden runners for blinds or covers.

The building is entered from the west through a double door opening protected by a projecting red brick porch laid to stretcher bond which projects 1.26m (4ft 2ins)from the face of the building. This appears to be a later modification as this wall overlies an earlier metal rail door stop. In the south elevation is a double light window, the east elevation has three double light windows and the north elevation has a double light window. The western end of the building appears to have been reconstructed, the westernmost 0.9m (3ft)of which appears to have be rebuilt and laid to English bond.

Internally is a solid concrete plinth 1.57m (5ft)x 0.61m (2ft) x 0.9m (2ft 11ins)on top of which is a steel plate, on the floor are three steel plates, probably for machinery mounting. Against the north wall are two power cable inlets, and against the south wall a single inlet.

The building probably housed equipment to power the circular test track to its west. This comprises circular concrete track 0.92m (3ft )wide with an external diameter of 6.98m (22ft 11ins), on the surface of which are the slight grooves with a gauge of 0.4m (1ft 4ins)which marks the track of a test vehicle. The centre of the track is gravel filled and a filled narrow channel leads back to building G5 that probably housed the equipment to power the test track.